UPDATE 3-Drifting Shell drilling rig grounds on rocks off Alaska

January 02, 2013|Reuters

* No spill seen so far after overflights on Tuesday

* Ran aground off Kodiak Island

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan 1 (Reuters) - An oil drilling rigowned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc ran aground in Alaskaafter drifting in stormy weather, highlighting the serious risksof working in an offshore region where some in the industry seehuge potential.

While the U.S. Coast Guard was concerned about a potentialspill from the drillship, named the Kulluk, its hull appearedsound after a few overflights on Tuesday, officials said.

Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler said the Kulluk had 143,000gallons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel and 12,000 gallons of otheroil products on board.

The grounding of the drillship, weighing nearly 28,000 grosstons and operated by Noble Corp, is a blow to Shell's$4.5 billion offshore program in Alaska.

The rig had been headed to Puget Sound for maintenance andupgrades when it broke away from one of its tow lines on Mondayafternoon and was driven to rocks just off Kodiak Island thatnight. The 18-member crew had already been evacuated by theCoast Guard on Saturday because of risks from the storm.

With winds reported at up to 60 miles (100 km) an hour andGulf of Alaska seas of up to 35 feet (11 m), responders wereunable to keep the ship from grounding, the Coast Guard said.

Sean Churchfield, operations manager for Shell Alaska, couldnot explain why the Kulluk had been caught in the weather. "Ican't give you a specific answer, but I do not believe we wouldwant to tow it in these sorts of conditions."

The rig was upright and rocking with a slow motion butstable, and Churchfield said there was still plenty of work tobring the incident to a safe conclusion.

The leading Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives'Natural Resources Committee, Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, saidthe incident and others illustrated the perils of drillingoffshore in the area.

"Oil companies cannot currently drill safely in theforeboding conditions of the Arctic, and drilling expansioncould prove disastrous for this sensitive environment," he said.

"TRULY CHALLENGING"

Susan Childs, emergency incident commander for Shell,believed that a significant spill was unlikely because of theKulluk's design, with diesel fuel tanks isolated in the centerof the vessel and encased in very heavy steel.

Shell is waiting for weather to moderate to begin a completeassessment of the Kulluk.

The Anglo-Dutch company's drilling plans had already alarmedenvironmentalists and locals, who believe the program threatensa fragile region.

"Shell and its contractors are no match for Alaska's weatherand sea conditions either during drilling operations or duringtransit," Lois Epstein, Arctic program director for TheWilderness Society, said in an email, calling for an end toShell's "costly drilling experiment in the Arctic Ocean."

Rick Steiner, a former University of Alaska marine biologyprofessor and an Alaska environmental activist, said the risksof going through the Gulf of Alaska were underestimated, thoughcompanies had to move equipment that way to reach Arctic waters.

Unlike Prince William Sound, where a system with 11 powerfulescort and rescue tugs was established after the 1989 ExxonValdez disaster, the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Island regionhas no high-powered tugs, he said.

A similar accident could happen with any of the 20 largeships heading through the area every day on the cargo routebetween Asia and North America, he said, though he faulted Shellfor failing to anchor the drillship days ago when there wasnotice that high winds were coming.

"Like every disaster, this is a cascade of human error andmechanical failures," Steiner said.

BEDEVILLED

The trouble began on Friday, when the ship towing the Kullukhad a mechanical failure and lost its connection. That ship, theAiviq, was reattached early on Monday along with a tug sent bythe operator of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. But the Aiviqlost its link again on Monday afternoon, and the tug guided theKulluk to where a grounding would have the least environmentalimpact.

The nearest community is Old Harbor, a Native Alutiiqvillage with 208 residents on the south side of Kodiak Island.

The Kulluk, which was being taken to Seattle for the offseason, was used by Shell in September and October to drill aprospect in the Beaufort Sea. Built in 1983, it had been slatedto be scrapped before Shell bought it in 2005. The company hasspent $292 million since then to upgrade the vessel.

Shell's Arctic campaign has been bedevilled by problems. Asecond drillship, the Noble Discoverer, was briefly detained inDecember by the Coast Guard in Seward, Alaska, because of safetyconcerns. A mandatory oil-containment barge, the ArcticChallenger, failed for months to meet Coast Guard requirementsfor seaworthiness and a ship mishap resulted in damage to acritical piece of equipment intended to cap a blown well.